Grain-car door



. H.. w. WOLF. GRAIN CAR noon.

APPLICATIQN FILED n i.5. 1921.

Patented Oct. 24,1922.

7 2 SHEETS-SHEET l- 0 d w lllmllllllllllllllll/ APPLICATION FILED DEC.5,

H. W. WOLF. GRAIN CAR DOOR.

Pat nted 0ct.24,1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Patented Oct. 24-, 1922.

rnnrsn STATES PATENT @Fr HENRY W. WOLF, or ermine, NEBRASKA.

GItAIN-CAR noon.

Application filed December 5, 1921.

. State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements inGrain-Car Doors-of which the following is a specification;

"This invention relates to grain oar doors. An important object of theinvention is to provide a pair of complementary door sections adaptedwhen open to permit the ends of a grain car to be filled and to permitthe center of the car to be conveniently filled without spilling thegrain when the doors arein the closed position.

A further object; of the invention is to provide (a center postadapted'to support the meeting edges of the doors when the car is filled, saidcenter post being adapted to be removed from its normal position whenthe doors are openand when it is desired to fill V the ends of the carwithout obstructing the door opening. 7 p I A; further object of theinvention is p to provide manually operated means carried by the centerpost for effecting the initial opening movements of the 'doors'when itis desired to unload the car.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent duringthe course ofthe following description.

In the drawings I have shown one embodimentofthe invention. In thisshowing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a grain car showing theinvention applied thereto,

Figure 2 is a similar view looking from the insideof the car, r

, Figure 3 is a section taken on line 33 of Figure V, Figure 4c isasection taken on line 4.4c of Figure 1, showing the center post ininoperative position, and with the door open, the lever being omitted, It Figure 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Figurel, the lever beingomitted.

I Figure 6 is a detail perspective of the center postand associatedelements, and,

-7-7 oi Figure 2.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a.preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 10 desig oft-he car.

- Figure-7 is a detail section taken on line V postefrom bendingoutwardly.

Serial No. 520,009.

nates a box car or grain car having the usual door opening 11 andsliding door 12. The door opening '11 is provided with the usual framing12.

In carrying out my invention I provide a pair of complementary doorsections 13 preferably formed of sheet iron or steel and these doorsections are pivoted to the framing 12 ,by means of bolts 14 passingthrough the lower outer corners of the doors. As clearly shown, theinner edges of the doors are adapted to overlap when the doors are inthe closed position. The doors are provided 'near'their inner andu'pperedges with openings 15' for a purpose to be described. The nu1neral 15designates a pair of guide bars having their upper endssecured to thetraining as'at 16 and their lower ends secured to the floorof thecar inany suitable manner. As showni'n Figures 4 and 5, the

guide bars 16 are positioned slightly inwardly of the outer edges of thedoors 13 to prevent the door from swinging inwardly of the car. It willbe apparent that the doors may be swung outwardly from the center postto assume the position shown in dotted 'li'nes in Figure 2. I provide apair of keepers 18 on opposite sides of the door opening to receive theedges of the doors when "they are in the opened position. v As shown,outward movement of the overlapped edges of the door is prevented bymeans of a center post designated as a whole by the numeral 19. Thiscenter post comprisesa long lower section 20 terminating at its lowerend in afoot 21 adapted to be received within a socket 22 formed in thefloor I As shown, socket 22 has a vertical outer face, while the innerportion is beveled'or curved upwardly to the floor level for a purposeto be described. The numeral 23 designates an upper or short section ofthe-center post pivotally connected at its lower end to the upper end ofthe section 20 by means of a pin 24: riveted at its ends upon washers 24As shown, the pin 24 is of set outwardly with respect to the center post'iilled.

hinge connection. As shown in Figure 8, when the door sections areopened the hinge portion oi? the center post may be swung inwardly andthe foot Ql'drawn upwardly along the curved portion of the slot until.

the foot of the center post is free from the Pivotally connected to thecenter post upon a bolt disposed above the door sections, is a retainingmember 31, preferably semicircular in form: and provided with a handlehen the doors are closed, the retaining member may be turned to theposition shown in Figure 2 with one end resting upon one door and theother end resting upon both the overlapped ends of the door. It will beapparent that since the, pivot 30 1s intermediate the ends of theretaining member 31, thedoors-cannot be opened until the retainingmember is revolved through sub stantially one-half a revolution;

As shown in Figure 3 the bolt 30 extends entirely through the centerpost and is provided upon its outer end with an eye 33 whichcarries alink 34L on'the lower end of which is a ring 35. The numeral 36designates a lever connected near its inner end with the ring 35 It willbe obvious that the lever 36 is perinanentlytastened to the center postbut is free. to be moved in any direction.

The operation of the device isas follows: l/Vhen 1t 1s desired toload acar with grain or the like, the doors 13 are swung outward- 40 7position shown in the dotted lines in Figure ly longitudinally of thecar to assume the 2. The center post is then hinged inwardly as shown inthe dotted lines of Figure 3 and then swung upwardly into the bracket 29as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 2.

The entire door opening-is then unobstructed so that theends of the carmay be readily in the car near the door, the centerpost is the doorsswun inwardly andretained in position by means of theretainlng member"duced through the spaces above the doors released from the bracket 29and swung downwardly into its normal position, and

Grain or the like may thenbe intro- 13 until the car is filled. When itis desired to unload the car, the operator lifts the outer end of thelever 36 and inserts the inner end of the lever within first one andthen the other of the openings 13' and moves the handle 86 downwardlythus pryingthe door upwardlya substantial distance from the floor of thecar as indicated inthe dotted lines in Fig. 1, whereby the bottoms ofthe doors may be grasped by the hands of the" "l Vhen the grain reachesa position naeaoas is to be taken as a preferred example of the same,and that various changes in the shape,

size, .and arrangement oi parts may be re sorted to without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims."i

Having thus described my invention, I claim: i I j 1. The combinationwith a car body having a door opening therein, the floor of said carbody being provided with a recessadjacent-the center ofthe door opening,of a center post hinged at its upper end to said car body, the lower endof said post being disposed within said recess, said post being providedintermediate its ends with a hinge, a pair of complementary doorsections hinged to the car body and adapted to cover the lower portionof thefdoor opening, said door sections having their inner edgesdisposed adjacent said post, and single means carried by said post forforcing both of said doors to and maintaining them in closed position.2. The combination with' a. car body having a door opening therein, thefloor-of said car body being provided with a recess adj aeenter postuniversally hinged at its upper end to said car body, the lower end ofsaid post. being adapted to be disposed within per edge of one door toone side of said post,

the other end of said member being adapted to rest upon the upper edgesof the over lapped portions of said doors.

3. The combination with a car bodyhaving a door opening therein, saidcar body being provided with a recess adjacent the center of the dooropening, of a center post secured to said car body, to swing upwardlyand outwardly with respect to the door openhinged'to the car body andadaptedto cover the lower portion of the door opening,- said a retainingmember pivoted intermediate its ends to said post, said retaining memberbeing substantially semicircular in form, one

end being adapted to act as a cam to contact with the overlapped edgesof'the door whereing a pair of complementary door sections cent thecenter of the door opening, of

by to force them to closed posit-ion, the other end being adapted torest upon the upper edge of one of said doors to one side of said post.

4. The combinationvvith a car body having a eoor opening therein, tl. efloor of said car being provided with a recess adjacent the centeroft-he door opening, of a center post hinged at its upper end to saidcar body, the lower end of said post being adapted to be disposed Withinsaid recess, said post being provided intermediate its ends With ahinge, a pair of complementary door sections hinged to the car body andadapted to cover the lower portion of the door open- 15 ing, a boltmounted in said post, means carried by the inner end of said bolt forforcing said doors to and maintaining them in closed position, and meanscarried by the outer end of said bolt for effecting the initial opening20

